Until relatively recently, there has been little research on gender differences in the social organization and social contexts of crime and on issues of gender and gender bias in social control, penal practice, and the administration of justice. Scholarship in this area is growing rapidly and is recognized by many as making some of the most significant advances in contemporary criminological research. The theoretical and policy contributions of the research are of global importance. However, researchers working in this area remain isolated and there has been little international communication or coordination. This award is for an international scientific conference of scholars from different countries to discuss gender issues in crime, law, and social control. The conference participants will critically examine theory, methods, and empirical data in an effort to disentangle gender assumptions and biases, gender differences, and what is known about the role of women in different systems of law and social control. Further, and equally as important, the conference seeks to examine the implications for future research and theory in criminology of bringing gender perspectives to bear and doing so in an international, non-ethnocentric way. Approximately thirty participants from 18 countries will attend the conference to be held in Montreal, Canada in July 1991. An edited volume of papers, together with relevant summaries of conference discussions, will be produced. This conference will provide a unique opportunity to pool findings and interpretations, from an international perspective, on concepts of gender in the field of criminology. The products of this conference should have a major effect on the development of scientific research by broadening the conceptual base of what and how the field studies social control, deviance, and crime.
